Fun with a purpose - the Washington Bee Atlas trains volunteers to map native bees

Karla Salp
Communications

Dr. Karen Wright demonstrates how to net bees. 

The air was chilly last Saturday as over a dozen people of various ages and backgrounds gave up a weekend to trudge out in hiking boots to a remote meadow near Sequim. The early morning, the fact that it was a weekend, and the distance from home for many of them proved that the group was truly passionate about the day’s work: learning to document the state’s native pollinators.

Oh, did I mention they are also all volunteers?

These dedicated few are some of the first to join and volunteer for a new project at the Washington State Department of Agriculture: the Washington Bee Atlas. The goal of the project is to document the state's native bees under the guidance of the WSDA’s first melittologist, Dr. Karen Wright.

Fun and fascinating – collecting native bees

Volunteers scout for bumblebees to catch and 
release with their insect nets.

Half of the volunteers were new to the project, but everyone was in high spirits, chatting about how they came to be involved. The day started by teaching new volunteers how to take and upload pictures of flowers to iNaturalist to record what the bees were pollinating and where.

Next was learning to net specimens. As the morning was cool, only bumble bees were out, which gave the participants an opportunity to practice “catch and release” with the fuzzy fliers, learning the “figure eight swoop” to ensure the specimens stayed in the net.

Now swinging the pros, volunteers next learned how to safely “charge” the collection vials, net a bee, and put it in the vial for euthanization* and preservation. Luckily, as the day warmed, the native bees became more active and the group had luck finding and netting over 20 species from that single location!

Logging plant types and location in iNaturalist

Last on the list was learning how to pin specimens so they could be preserved and later identified to species. The group found this is none too easy as some bees are extremely small. Once the specimens are identified, all of the data will be available on an online public dashboard.

Everyone was quick to pick up the basics needed to collect bees. It was a fun and funky group to be around. Everyone was fascinated by the bees they were finding, sometimes surprised when it came to pinning the bees that bees they thought were the same while collecting proved to be different when they took the time to pin and preserve them. Many stuck around to collect at another location in the area on Sunday.

“Anyone can learn to collect native bees in less than a day. Field work is a fun way to learn about the pollinators around us while improving our collective knowledge about our bees and how they interact with our environment,” Dr. Wright said.

Why native bees?

Dr. Wright shows how to situate the antennae 
when pinning so they don't accidentally
break off later

Very little is known about Washington’s native bees. We aren’t sure how many species are in the state and we can’t say whether they are doing well or declining. It is impossible to say how various changes — from agriculture to changes in climate to urban sprawl — are affecting them.

The map below shows known sightings of what is believed to be about 600 species of native bees in Washington. It amounts to about one dot per species believed to be in the state. In other words, we know almost nothing about native bees as a whole and there are many large areas in the state with no records at all.

The Washington Bee Atlas aims to change all that. Dr. Wright is responsible not only for training the volunteers and running the program, but for identifying all the bees that the volunteers collect as well.

Longhorned bee on flower

The project does not collect bumble bees (which are already tracked in the Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas) or honey bees, which are not native.

A successful model

While the program is new to Washington, the Washington Bee Atlas is not reinventing the wheel. The program is modeled on the Oregon Bee Atlas, which has been in place for several years. In fact, the two programs are collaborating. The Oregon Bee Atlas has developed such a thorough virtual training that Washington’s Bee Atlas volunteers will be taking it as well.

Once fully trained and certified, the volunteers will be able to collect under WSDA’s bee collection permits for the research project. (Did you know you have to have permits to collect wildlife in Washington?)

Volunteering with the bee atlas

To participate in the Washington Bee Atlas, volunteers must complete training to ensure they can properly identify and collect only native bees.

Volunteers living their best life and swinging
their insect nets!

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis, although training opportunities and field days may be limited to certain times of the year. If you are interested in learning more about the Washington Bee Atlas or would like to volunteer, visit WSDA’s Washington Bee Atlas webpage. Registration for the next virtual training session closes Aug. 2. The next field day is Aug. 11 at Snoqualmie Pass. For more information, visit our website or contact Dr. Karen Wright at karen.wright@agr.wa.gov.

*Euthanization is a necessary part of this research project as many species cannot be identified without examining the specimen itself.